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'The Black Tax' argues African Americans are overtaxed and underserved

Credit: University of Chicago Press
Credit: University of Chicago Press

In the early 20th century, Baltimore City codified racial segregation in housing into law, prohibiting African Americans from moving onto blocks where white residents were the majority. As the city grew, the sewer commission methodically avoided building infrastructure in Black neighborhoods. That’s one example given by historian Andrew Kahrl of how African American taxpayers have been denied the benefits of their dollars.

Andrew Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia. His new book is “The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.” He'll be speaking about it on Tuesday, April 16th at the Enoch Pratt Free Central Library.

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Maureen Harvie is Senior Supervising Producer for On the Record. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and joined WYPR in 2014 as an intern for the newsroom. Whether coordinating live election night coverage, capturing the sounds of a roller derby scrimmage, interviewing veterans, or booking local authors, she is always on the lookout for the next story.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'